1. Field of Invention
This invention is a compact retractable towel bar assembly of which a towel bar rod is designed to an extended detented mode for hanging items to dry such as hand towels, dish towels, washcloths, clothes and paper goods. Said towel bar rod is capable of retracting from said extended detented mode to an intermediary non-detented mode and then further to rotate downward to a compact towel drying position. An ideal application of said compact retractable towel bar assembly is when said assembly is attached to a fixed drawer front panel normally located in front of a kitchen sink cabinet. This towel bar location provides optimum access for hanging towels, eliminates access to handles of kitchen appliances to hang towels, and eliminates human bodily interference when said compact retractable towel bar is in said compact towel drying position.
Note:
a.) In the discussions to follow, said compact retractable towel bar will be referred to as the “towel bar” for brevity.
b.) In the discussions to follow, reference to arm and support appear in the singular for the left end assembly of said towel bar. It is implied that this reference applies to the right end of said towel bar which is constructed in an identical but right-handed manner.
2. Description of Prior Art
It has been observed especially in kitchens, that hand towels and dish drying towels are placed to dry on oven door handles, refrigerator door handles, towel racks inside of cabinet doors and other less desirable or remote locations. Placing a towel in these remote locations is an unplanned alternative for lack of a properly designed and specifically located towel bar. The action of placing a towel on said appliances handles could interfere with another human in close proximity. A better alternative is to install a towel bar right below the sink counter top where the distance from the sink basin to the towel is a practical minimum. The selection of this location will provide as close an access to hanging towel for hand drying and secondly, eliminate a person's arm from colliding with another person close by when attempting to store a towel for drying.
It is generally observed that towel bars project a certain fixed distance from the surface that they are mounted to. This projection precludes applications of the types of towel bar assemblies that protrude into a person's frontal body mid-section when they are standing at a water basin such as a sink or lavatory. As naturally observed, this is not a desirable practice due to poor ergonomic parameters.
Prior art U.S. Pat. No. 5,373,950[1994] illustrates a plurality of towel bars with the assembly projection from the surface to which it is mounted appearing to be in multiple inches. It is obvious that this projection prohibits applications of this device immediately in front of a kitchen sink where a person is normally positioned when washing items. Although the lowest bar on this sub-assembly can be retracted horizontally towards the mounting base, the remaining and fixed upper bar assemblies project excessively from the mounting surface negating usage in front of a kitchen or bathroom sink. Therefore application of said towel rack apparatus is not adaptable to locations immediately in front of a kitchen sink. My invention, as further described, has an ideal application, typically, on a stationary drawer panel of a kitchen sink cabinet as seen from the following drawings where the projection from the mounting surface in said towel storage/aeration position is only one and one-half inches. Further, where it is desired to mount a towel bar on a stationary drawer panel of a sink cabinet in a mobile home or trailer where isle space is restricted, said towel bar has an ideal application.